Collaboration and project management

caradon

Onshape provides a great technical platform for collaborative CAD. The ability to work simultaneously on parts, assemblies... without worrying about checking in/out etc. is quite awesome.
However, as some of my attempts at collaborative projects have proven already, it is quite a challenge to properly manage these projects. The situation worsens exponentially as the distance and time zone separation between team mebers increases.

A dedicated project management/design discussion platform is needed.

• Is Onshape going to provide such functionality, built into the Onshape interface? (Dassault would call it 'social 3D' or probably... 'social 3D EXPERIENCE'...)
• Or will Onshape partner with 3rd party providers, the likes of ProofHub, Podio etc.
• Or will the end users need to take care of project management themselves?

Collaboration without proper management is no collaboration.

Dries

pete_yodis

Dassault would call it "Social Project nFuse V6R15 running on the ENOVIA backbone powered by the 3D EXPERIENCE", LOL.

lougallo

Very true @DriesV.  I completely agree and we are working on improving our collaboration cues to give good insight on Who, What, Where other collaborators are in the document.  The two biggest things that remain would be co-viewing (whether that be sharing the interaction or some type of screen sharing and a way to communicate with chat, voice, video.  How do we not require a GoToMeeting/Hangout like interface to really understand what is happening with my collaborators in real time.

Ideas and wishes are very welcome!

kevin_quigley

Lou, given the background of most of the Onshape team, the answer to the co viewing thing is Impact Xoft...as purchased by Dassault....and possibly the new SolidWorks stuff ( though so few seem to use it collaboration is a bit moot).

wrt cloud PM systems we have done a lot of work on this over the past 12 months trying to find a solution that meets all our customer requirements. We didn't find one. We started on Wrike but dropped it. Ditto for ProofHub. 

The reason was not us, but our customers and suppliers not using them properly. The cloud PM market and most software vendors say email is dead, well, it is not. People use email. I use email. Email is the core to 99% of SME project management.

after much experimentation, we are now settled on Dropbox, GrabCaD workbench and Evernote. Why? All three  sync to all devices. All three are cheap ( we use the paid versions btw). All three are easy to use. Dropbox is our cloud file storage and sync for customers. Evernote is our research platform. Grabcad is our online 3D platform for distribution of RFQs and collaborative 3D. It works well. For screen sharing we use Glance. Nothing is simpler. If. You don't know Glance, try it www.glance.net 

i've used it since day 1 and it has never let me down yet. No daft email invites, no complex interfaces, just start session, enter session key into website, boom. Screen shared.

caradon

A mini-forum or logged chat could be a great starting point.
Or like I suggested elsewhere: a 'whiteboard' for dynamically and organically (like the design process mostly is... at least mine) arranging all sorts of relevant information (text, images, video, document tabs, Post-it notes...). This is something that I find lacking severely in most cloud PM tools. They often feel rigid to use and strangely cumbersome.

My view is that a design tool needs visual and creativity inducing management/discussion/documentation tools.

Dries

billy2

I think collaboration is the most exciting new feature in OS. I think it could revolutionize the CAD industry.

The goal: have 6 engineers finish a project in 1/6 the time.

I think it can be done but it'll take more than just software.

pete_yodis

I see Microsoft just announced a completely browser based version of Skype, with intents not to have to use a plug-in with the browser.  I wonder if this would integrate nicely within another completely browser based product like Onshape?  Audio, visual, chat, screenshare, etc...  I know Arena PLM integrated Skype into their offering back in the mid 2000's.  Not sure if it's still there or not.  Just thinking out loud.

julian_leland

I use Asana for project management both at the office and at home/for consulting work - it's particularly useful for keeping track of what changes need to be made to parts and assemblies. I believe that they have a pretty well-developed API (they've got tons of integrations with other web services), and it would be great to be able to add/edit/complete tasks directly in the OS interface, instead of having to switch tabs.

lougallo

@JulianLeland I am excited to build some of those integrations as well.  Integration is a huge part of the cloud story.  I can't wait to do all sorts of service integrations with OS.

pete_yodis

Just saw this development... 
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/21/7264991/microsoft-bringing-chat-to-word-powerpoint-office-online-apps
Looks like the ability to group chat while working on a document and then have that information recorded.

lougallo

@pdy that is Microsofft following suite. Google has been doing this for a long time in their products. We need this too to make collaboration hit the right level. As I have said twith many things, it's on the radar for sure. 

pete_yodis

@LouGallo  I understand.  Just passing this along as a reference - I should have stated that.  I understand the Google products, although haven't used them much.  I would agree that it has to be as platform agnostic as possible.  I'm excited in due time to see what you guys cook up.  Regards.

david_sohlstrom

So Lou where are we  at on this subject. I spent some time today using Skype with one of our team members. worked good.

Dave

Raphael

Collaboration without proper management is no collaboration is true but I would say that Collaboration without Live Communication is Even More No Collaboration.

As mentioned previously, a lot of us are using Skype or skype-like tool to communicate while collaborating on a project. Within Slack, that some of us may use (frequently) we use a lot the IM/IRC tool to exchange points of view, ideas and feedback on top of the documents we share, it is fast and really efficient collaboration.... 
This IRC/IM/Chat/Skype capability if might be built-in OnShape, would greatly improve Collaboration as well. 

3dcad

+1 for built-in communication for collaboration

And while developing, create possibility to use as representation tool. Follow mode with commenting in plain text and voice or pointing out some part of model with their mouse.

kinsleymark

A simple comment and "chat" component within OS would definitely be nice. But if there are plans to go deeper beyond that, it should integrate tightly with the APIs of Project Management programs that are already being widely used (such as Asana, Podio, etc.). I personally use Asana for everything and would be great to have just one place to keep track of.

(Also, if a chat component is being developed, it should be able to pipe out to something like Slack. It's just much easier to keep track of conversations from just one place).

lougallo

Yes.  Full chat and other real-time collaboration cues are going to come.  It is important be able to see realtime status but also to reach out and communicate in order to organize a plan of attack.  Not sure in the  near term (or ever) we would natively build our own VOIP or Video conferencing since that space is already pretty standards defined but I do see:

• Further development and tools in Follow Me mode (double click on the icon of the other collaborator to watch them)  VIEW SHARING
• Chat (realtime chat)
• Markup/resolve (Sticky design review tools)

What else do you think is required to be productive in a collaborative session? (short of project management tools).  

david_sohlstrom

I was ask yesterday by my brother if there is a way to lock a studio so that the person assigned that part is the only one that can make changes in that studio.

Dave

pete_yodis

@David_Sohlstrom Yes.  That's handled on the share document controls...

https://cad.onshape.com/help/#sharedocuments.htm

3dcad

For me at the moment just as simple as possible for client to connect and share view without knowing anything about OS. I would imagine something like just clicking a link in email for jumping aboard or viewing model on their own. 

I know this is not actual 'collaboration' but I would really like to get rid of the screenshots and other static stuff..  

david_sohlstrom

@Pete Yodis Close but no cigar. Say I have a project with 3 studios. Crank case, Cylinder and Head. I am designing the Crank case, Fred is designing the cylinder and Frank is designing the Head. Frank would like it that others can not edit the studio so we lock that studio that Frank only has edit  and view and others only have view.

Dave

kinsleymark

3dcad said:

For me at the moment just as simple as possible for client to connect and share view without knowing anything about OS. I would imagine something like just clicking a link in email for jumping aboard or viewing model on their own. 

I know this is not actual 'collaboration' but I would really like to get rid of the screenshots and other static stuff..  

Fusion360 is doing a great job with this aspect. From any model, you can share a public link that anyone can view via a webpage w/out needing an account or to sign-up for anything. As an added bonus, you can have the option to password protect or even display a "download" link which allows the viewer to download a file in a format of their choosing (.step, .iges, etc). I've used this a number of times when getting quotes from a vendor. No drawings or CAD files need to be emailed or exchanged and no plug-ins needed (from what I can tell...) -- just a simple click on a link and we are both looking at the same model.
Here is a link as an example: http://a360.co/1EvVZHe

I would really love to see something like this integrated in OS!

lougallo

@Mark embedding and private links have been noted in some future ideas for sure.

pete_yodis

David_Sohlstrom said:

@Pete Yodis Close but no cigar. Say I have a project with 3 studios. Crank case, Cylinder and Head. I am designing the Crank case, Fred is designing the cylinder and Frank is designing the Head. Frank would like it that others can not edit the studio so we lock that studio that Frank only has edit  and view and others only have view.

Dave

 @David_Sohlstrom If I understand you correctly, then you are asking for a more granular level of control within the document?  The ability to control certain studios within a document?  There is an ability for users to create a branch on a studio and control that branch themselves.  The idea being that many branches can be created on a studio with many users having the ability to explore alternatives or possible design avenues that could later be merged into a final design.  Would that get you what you want?

https://cad.onshape.com/help/#versionmanager.htm